1. Field
The present invention relates generally to automobile radio receiver apparatus and particularly to aftermarket radio receiver apparatus used to replace existing radio receiver apparatus in automobiles or other vehicles, such as trucks, all of which will hereinafter be referred to as automobiles or cars.
2. State of the Art
Radios have been a standard accessory in automobiles for decades and are generally mounted in the automobile dashboard. An automobile radio will generally include a radio case housing the radio electronics and having a visual display extending therefrom or mounted therein to display to a radio user the radio settings, and, particularly for older automobiles, the radio case will generally also have a pair of control knob shafts extending therefrom for mounting control knobs for controlling and changing radio settings, such as volume and radio station tuning. Most radios in older automobiles also have a set of push buttons associated with the visual display extending from the radio case which can be set by a user to preselected radio stations and which, when a user pushes a selected push button, quickly tunes the radio to the preselected radio station associated with that push button.
Automobile radios, particularly automobile radios from the 1950's through the 1980's, generally have a faceplate forming the front of the radio case or mounted to the front of the radio case, with the radio display, the push buttons, and the control knob shafts for the control knobs extending from the case or faceplate and with the radio case extending back from the faceplate. As used herein, in my parent application Ser. No. 13/728,844, and in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,276, “faceplate” or “face plate” refers to the front of the radio case or a mounting plate mounted to the front of the radio case. The control knob shafts will generally include threaded control knob shaft sleeves extending from the radio case through which the control knob shafts extend. To mount these radios in the dashboard of an automobile, the dashboard will generally provide a display opening to receive the radio visual display and push buttons and separate radio control knob shaft openings to simultaneously receive the pair of radio control knob shafts with respective control knob shaft sleeves extending from the radio case or faceplate. The radio is then secured in the dashboard by nuts screwed onto the threaded control knob shaft sleeves from the front of the dashboard to secure the radio face plate and the radio case to the back of the dashboard. Thus, the dashboard is sandwiched between the radio case or faceplate and the nuts tightened onto the threaded control knob shaft sleeves, which securely hold the radio in place in the dashboard. When mounted in the dashboard, the radio display and push buttons will fit into the display opening in a manner so that it can be seen by a user with the push buttons accessible for operation by a user, and the control knob shafts for the control knobs will extend through the control knob shaft openings so that control knobs mounted on the shafts are accessible to a user to control the radio thus mounted. The radio case extends back from the faceplate behind the dashboard and is sized to fit into the space between the dashboard and the firewall. A back strap may sometimes also be used to secure and stabilize the back of the radio case in position behind the dashboard.
As indicated, automobile radios are generally mounted in automobile dashboards. However, each model of automobile generally has a different dashboard design with different space available behind the dashboard between the dashboard and the firewall or other equipment mounted behind the dashboard, such as heating and air conditioning system components. Usually dashboard designs change from year to year or at least every several years and with each new dashboard design, the size and placement of the radio display opening, the positioning of the control knob shaft openings for the radio, and the space between the dashboard and firewall and other equipment mounted behind the dashboard are changed. Thus, over the last fifty or more years, hundreds of different dashboards with different display opening configurations, sizes, and locations and different control knob shaft opening placements have been produced. Generally, each of the different dashboard designs with different display opening configurations, sizes, and locations and different control knob shaft opening placements were accompanied by a different radio specifically configured to fit the particular dashboard design. However, particular radios in the configurations to fit these many dashboards have long been out of production.
Radios do not last forever, and further, in recent years, there have been many improvements to automobile radios along with the inclusion of additional features such as, most recently, inputs for small portable digital memory storage devices such as Ipods, flash drives, and SD cards which can provide digital music files for playback through an automobile radio sound system. Many drivers and owners of older automobiles and classic cars wish to replace the original radio in their automobile with a new radio, either to provide a radio that works if the original radio has stopped working, or to provide a new radio with the additional features of more modern radios. Unfortunately, new original equipment replacement radios are not available for older cars, and further, new after market replacement radios to fit into the space available and having one of the many old dashboard radio configurations generally are not available.
There have been past attempts to provide replacement radios that provide adjustability of the spacing of the control knob shafts in order to allow the radio to fit a number of different dashboard radio mounting configurations, see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,067,654, 3,906,371, and 3,685,879, and my prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,276. However, while these systems provide for adjustment of the positioning of control knob shafts in order to fit a variety of control knob shaft opening positions, the type of positioning provided, e.g., at the opposite sides of the display, is limited as is the amount of adjustment provided. Further, such systems do not address the problem of mounting a replacement radio where there is inadequate space behind the dashboard to receive the replacement radio.
The problem still exists of providing a replacement radio for older automobiles that will fit a wide range of older automobile dashboard arrangements and make replacement radios available for use with most older automobiles. The availability of replacement radios for older automobiles is becoming more of a problem as the number of particular older automobiles in need of such replacement radios becomes more limited. Thus, it is becoming almost impossible for some classic and antique car owners to find replacement radios for their cars.